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20 reasons baby boomers should shut the hell up about millennials

April 27, 2016

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When baby boomers talk trash about millennials, calling them entitled or self-obsessed, they are blithely ignoring the tremendous failings of the boomer generation and the hypocrisy the kids can see right through. So, we’re holding up the mirror to the generation that has been in charge of the world for decades. What have they wrought? (Getty Images) less

When baby boomers talk trash about millennials, calling them entitled or self-obsessed, they are blithely ignoring the tremendous failings of the boomer generation and the hypocrisy the kids can see right ... more

1. Let’s start with elections, since we’re in the thick of it: Boomer liberals were pissed off at young women for not flocking to Hillary Clinton and even suggested the girlies were gathering around Bernie Sanders simply because of young male attractions. Never mind the insult, the backlash has answered it. The real boomer disconnect comes from educating young women to be independent and body-positive and then flooding their lives with images of the commercial female body: Young, white, nearly nude and thin but shapely. So where’s the feminism of the 1960s-'70s they’re supposed to flock around? To be sure, they are living it and so don’t see it for the revolution it was. But the commercial female form was created by boomer society as a whole, and that’s the point: The commerce-obsessed boomers say one thing and sell another.

Photo caption: Class leader Hillary Rodham of Wellesley College talking about student protests which she supported in her commencement speech. (Photo by Lee Balterman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) less

1. Let’s start with elections, since we’re in the thick of it: Boomer liberals were pissed off at young women for not flocking to Hillary Clinton and even suggested the girlies were gathering around Bernie ... more

2. Boomers taught millennials to revere sustainability, group efforts, social and economic justice, and then declared Bernie Sanders a pipe dream, a puff of smoke, a damn commie, an impractical demagogue. Get over him kids, he was no more real than a sunbeam. You’ll understand when you’re old, desperate and cynical. less

2. Boomers taught millennials to revere sustainability, group efforts, social and economic justice, and then declared Bernie Sanders a pipe dream, a puff of smoke, a damn commie, an impractical demagogue. Get ... more

3. Booms inherited one of history’s most amazing systems for self-governance — a democratically elected Congress — and made of it a divisive, suicidal body of sneering, childish demagogues who are dead set on getting their way and/or burning the country down around them if they don’t. (Not to mention the massive amounts of money, and the compromises to get it, one has to have to even run for that august body.)

Photo caption: Crowds celebrating in the House of Representatives after Congress passed the 13th amendment, which outlawed slavery. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images) less

3. Booms inherited one of history’s most amazing systems for self-governance — a democratically elected Congress — and made of it a divisive, suicidal body of sneering, childish demagogues who are dead ... more

4. Boomers in power declared people of color equal to whites and created a national holiday for a black leader of civil rights, while imprisoning "them" in poverty and super-funded the war on drugs in order to lock them up in vast numbers, imprisoning an generation of young men of color. Call it The New Jim Crow. When they got tired of paying the taxes necessary to keep them in the American gulag system, booms invented private prisons! Why not make some cold, hard cash from all that justice? Hell yeah!

Photo caption: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., right, tells a news conference in Los Angeles, Aug. 19, 1965 that he has asked Gov. Edmund Brown Sr., left, to visit the Watts area of the city and talk to the people. less

4. Boomers in power declared people of color equal to whites and created a national holiday for a black leader of civil rights, while imprisoning "them" in poverty and super-funded the war on drugs in order to ... more

Photo: Harold P. Matosian, AP

4. Boomers in power declared people of color equal to whites and... Photo-8443855.128726 - seattlepi.com

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5. The Booms stuffed the kids’ faces full of sugar and carbs to make money, to make ’em feel love and to see the drugged-out bliss in their eyes. Then, they followed up with drugs, punishment and disdain -- “They’re so disrespectful!” -- in a panicked effort to calm kids the hell down and get them through a day at school. (Yes, those vending machines and candy dispensers in schools are being filled with healthier food and drinks now, but why was it ever a good idea?) less

5. The Booms stuffed the kids’ faces full of sugar and carbs to make money, to make ’em feel love and to see the drugged-out bliss in their eyes. Then, they followed up with drugs, punishment and disdain -- ... more

Photo: Jewel Samad/Getty Images, AFP/Getty Images

5. The Booms stuffed the kids’ faces full of sugar and carbs to... Photo-1848892.128726 - seattlepi.com

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6. They also created an amazing medical system that can cure nearly anything, sew limbs and faces back on, even cancer will soon fall to these collective powers. And then booms put it economically -- comically! -- out of reach of nearly all of the millennials. And if the m’s do use that system, they’ll be paying for the privilege for decades or go bankrupt (basically both). Meanwhile, the booms are spending their inheritance to keep their greedy hearts pumping with that magic … deep into old, useless age, clinging to life no matter what it costs or how short the reprieve. (Getty Images) less

6. They also created an amazing medical system that can cure nearly anything, sew limbs and faces back on, even cancer will soon fall to these collective powers. And then booms put it economically -- ... more

6. They also created an amazing medical system that can cure... Photo-9907299.128726 - seattlepi.com

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7. Speaking of for-profit! Boomers made a college education necessary for long-term success, taught their kids from the cradle on that their childhood education is merely a path to college, and then made public college so expensive they couldn’t afford it. So, they set up loan sharks to make money off of their desperation. And when public colleges got too tax-costly for their selfishness to bear, the booms created a private-college system for everyone! Hey, why should the rich have private colleges that cost too much money? With hundreds of billions of dollars floating around, they all agreed that the free market would educate kids well enough. (Getty Images) less

7. Speaking of for-profit! Boomers made a college education necessary for long-term success, taught their kids from the cradle on that their childhood education is merely a path to college, and then made public ... more

7. Speaking of for-profit! Boomers made a college education... Photo-9907304.128726 - seattlepi.com

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8. The booms lectured the m’s on fiscal responsibility … and then nearly destroyed the economy with their bad loans and blind greed. They hate taxes, so they built up a national debt the kids will have to pay off. Boomers also designed a system of usury that created massive consumer debt, enticed younger and younger people to join that scam, made it impossible to buy anything of consequence without a proven record of having participated in that scam system … and, icing on the cake, they allowed a nationwide proliferation of "paycheck loan" stores to entrap the desperate working poor into paying insane interest rates for the privilege of being able to pay their bills or, gasp, enjoy a little of the consumerism mainlined into their veins. It’s their fault, booms say. They shouldn’t be poor if they don’t want to be poor. (Getty Images) less

8. The booms lectured the m’s on fiscal responsibility … and then nearly destroyed the economy with their bad loans and blind greed. They hate taxes, so they built up a national debt the kids will have to ... more

9. They made life so expensive in America that to get by with the fruits of honest physical labor, society now (*gasp*) has to mandate an hourly wage of (*double gasp*) $15 bucks just as a baseline. So they crushed the unions that made the American labor class a middle class and shipped those jobs to countries where the people "know how to work!" less

9. They made life so expensive in America that to get by with the fruits of honest physical labor, society now (*gasp*) has to mandate an hourly wage of (*double gasp*) $15 bucks just as a baseline. So they ... more

Photo: DANIELLA BECCARIA, SEATTLEPI.COM

9. They made life so expensive in America that to get by with the... Photo-7826905.128726 - seattlepi.com

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10. Boomers love money so much that when some of their brothers and sisters made an insane amount, they decided it would be OK for them to store it overseas, somewhere so they wouldn’t have to pay for the social and physical infrastructure that made it all possible to begin with. If you want paved streets, safe neighborhoods and a stable monetary system, make the middle class and poor pay for it. After all, if they wanted to be rich and not pay taxes, they should get off their asses and get rich! This is America! (Getty Images) less

10. Boomers love money so much that when some of their brothers and sisters made an insane amount, they decided it would be OK for them to store it overseas, somewhere so they wouldn’t have to pay for the ... more

10. Boomers love money so much that when some of their brothers... Photo-9907397.128726 - seattlepi.com

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11. They didn’t invent the internet, but they did wire the world for it. And then they filled it full of crap and mined the data to entrap more minds through sophisticated algorithms into buying and believing more crap … and then get all up in arms over the loss of "real news and information" and the proliferation of porn. (Getty Images) less

11. They didn’t invent the internet, but they did wire the world for it. And then they filled it full of crap and mined the data to entrap more minds through sophisticated algorithms into buying and believing ... more

11. They didn’t invent the internet, but they did wire the... Photo-9907396.128726 - seattlepi.com

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12. Boomers bemoan that the kids spend all their time glued to the screens of electronic devices, but did everything they could to sell them as much tech as possible, even before they could talk. They created a world where all social and economic lives are lived inside those devices and then gloated about how helpless the little shits would be if that world came tumbling down. Those kids wouldn’t be able to talk to another human face-to-face or build a fire! Well, then, perhaps we should have thought about that before cocooning them -- and ourselves -- inside those devices. (Getty Images) less

12. Boomers bemoan that the kids spend all their time glued to the screens of electronic devices, but did everything they could to sell them as much tech as possible, even before they could talk. They created ... more

12. Boomers bemoan that the kids spend all their time glued to... Photo-9907431.128726 - seattlepi.com

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13. And they’re doing it again … more … still: Using the millennials’ talents to build the boomer dream of a world run by artificial intelligence — with almost no thought to whether that world will destroy what’s left of human intelligence and social bonds. The kids will just have to figure it out decades from now. "We can, so we will!!" BTW, we may have already created AI. It’s impossible to know what consciousness at the scale of the internet and everything tied to it would be like or even if we would be able to perceive it. So it’s possible that ship has already sailed and we’re aboard it for good or ill. less

13. And they’re doing it again … more … still: Using the millennials’ talents to build the boomer dream of a world run by artificial intelligence — with almost no thought to whether that world will ... more

Photo: Colin Anderson, Getty Images/Blend Images

13. And they’re doing it again … more … still: Using the... Photo-7384156.128726 - seattlepi.com

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14. Boomers bemoan the loss of tradition, family values, marriage … while divorcing as fast as they marry, putting everything, anything up for sale in the most crass commercial methods of shame, lust and envy, mindlessly subsuming local culture with the nihilism of mass, celebrity-obsessed media. Then they bitterly insult each other on every social platform as a national pastime. less

14. Boomers bemoan the loss of tradition, family values, marriage … while divorcing as fast as they marry, putting everything, anything up for sale in the most crass commercial methods of shame, lust and ... more

15. They invented warehousing old people so they wouldn’t have to bother with them. That doesn’t exactly instill the confidence in family they selfishly (now that they’re old) declare the world needs.

15. They invented warehousing old people so they wouldn’t have to bother with them. That doesn’t exactly instill the confidence in family they selfishly (now that they’re old) declare the world needs.

15. They invented warehousing old people so they wouldn’t have... Photo-9907474.128726 - seattlepi.com

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16. Boomers created a society of deadbeat dads through imprisonment and the scarlet letter of F (for FELONY), panicked over a handful of welfare queens who, they told themselves, were destroying the world’s largest economy, and then devised a national echo chamber (talk radio) for reinforcing hate, fear and anger. less

16. Boomers created a society of deadbeat dads through imprisonment and the scarlet letter of F (for FELONY), panicked over a handful of welfare queens who, they told themselves, were destroying the world’s ... more

17. They charged up the nascent environmental movement and set aside some wild lands, restored some natural habitat, for sure, but then they strip-mined the planet and pumped as much CO2 into the atmosphere as they could so they could enjoy life to its fullest and drive big, fast cars all alone. And that’s going to turn out just great!

17. They charged up the nascent environmental movement and set aside some wild lands, restored some natural habitat, for sure, but then they strip-mined the planet and pumped as much CO2 into the atmosphere as ... more

Photo: Chevrolet

17. They charged up the nascent environmental movement and set... Photo-7650411.128726 - seattlepi.com

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18. “Be yourself!” they said, and then created a plastic surgery industry so pervasive and out of control that it now “trims” and reshapes teenagers' vaginas. WTF! I mean, wow.

18. “Be yourself!” they said, and then created a plastic surgery industry so pervasive and out of control that it now “trims” and reshapes teenagers' vaginas. WTF! I mean, wow.

Photo: (c) Marcelo Santos

18. “Be yourself!” they said, and then created a plastic... Photo-9907489.128726 - seattlepi.com

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19. Boomers tell the kids to get a job, live the dream. Then they send them off into a robust economy staffed by contract and part-time workers with no benefits or job security. Hey, they warn the m’s to save up for retirement, because they are spending all the public money that will ever exist for that. less

19. Boomers tell the kids to get a job, live the dream. Then they send them off into a robust economy staffed by contract and part-time workers with no benefits or job security. Hey, they warn the m’s to save ... more

Photo: ANDREW ROSS, Getty Images

19. Boomers tell the kids to get a job, live the dream. Then they... Photo-1611365.128726 - seattlepi.com

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20. They won the Cold War. Democracy and capitalism triumphed. And then boomers set up massive systems for surveilling everyone, marched off on one country-wrecking adventure after another for no other reasons than fear and money, making enemies everywhere though blind spite. In the wake of all that success, they now threaten to leave the country if it elects a crazy person … instead of declaring their will to fight, to sacrifice their last decades for the future of the world and their kids. Look, we created the strongest military force the world has ever seen, and now we barely have the gumption to make sure it doesn't land in the hands of maniacs. There is nowhere safe in the world from the American military, should murderers take control of it. Just saying. less

20. They won the Cold War. Democracy and capitalism triumphed. And then boomers set up massive systems for surveilling everyone, marched off on one country-wrecking adventure after another for no other reasons ... more

Photo: Paula Bronstein, Getty Images

20. They won the Cold War. Democracy and capitalism triumphed.... Photo-4222754.128726 - seattlepi.com